We decided to share a mix older and newer young books in various genres for Ramadan this year! Have you read any of these before? Which ones are on your TBR list?
Fledgling: The Keeper’s Records of Revolution by S.K. Ali
Kokila
The first book in a gripping duology from acclaimed author S.K. Ali introduces a fractured world on the brink of either enlightenment or war.
Would you trade love for peace?
Raisa of Upper Earth has only lived a life of privilege and acquiescence. Ever dutiful, she accepts her father’s arrangement of her marriage to Lein, Crown Prince of the corrupt, volatile lands of Lower Earth. Though Lein is a stranger, Raisa knows the wedding will unite their vastly different worlds in a pact of peace: an infusion of Upper Earth technology into Lower Earth will usher in the final age of enlightenment, ending war between humans forever.
Or is justice more urgent?
Newly released from imprisonment, Nada of Lower Earth has found her own calling: disrupting the royal wedding. Convinced her cousin Lein’s alliance with Upper Earth will launch an invasive, terrifying form of tyranny, Nada sets out undercover to light the spark of revolution.
When Raisa goes missing a week before the wedding, all eyes turn to the rebels, including Nayf, Nada’s twin brother—a fugitive on the run. And when Nayf and Raisa meet, the long-simmering animosity they feel toward each other’s worlds slowly burns away into something unexpected.
But the Crown Prince wants his bride—and future—back. And he will go to the ends of the Earths to reclaim them.
Huda F Wants to Know?: A Graphic Novel by Huda Fahmy
Dial Books
Huda Fahmy is ready for junior year. She’s got a plan to join all the clubs, volunteer everywhere, ace the ACTs, write the most awe-inspiring essay for her scholarship applications. Easy.
But then Mama and Baba announce the most unthinkable they’re getting a divorce.
Huda is devastated. She worries about what this will mean for her family, their place in the Muslim community, and her future. Her grades start tanking, she has a big fight with her best friend, and everything feels out of control. Will her life ever feel normal again? Huda F wants to know.
The Hysterical Girls of St. Bernadette’s by Hanna Alkaf
Salaam Reads/ Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Publisher Summary: An all-girls school is struck with mysterious cases of screaming hysteria in this chilling dark academia thriller haunted by a deeply buried history clawing to the light.
For over a hundred years, girls have fought to attend St. Bernadette’s, with its reputation for shaping only the best and brightest young women.
Unfortunately, there is also the screaming.
When a student begins to scream in the middle of class, a chain reaction starts that impacts the entire school. By the end of the day, seventeen girls are affected—along with St. Bernadette’s stellar reputation.
Khadijah’s got her own scars to tend to, and watching her friends succumb to hysteria only rips apart wounds she’d rather keep closed. But when her sister falls to the screams, Khad knows she’s the only one who can save her.
Rachel has always been far too occupied trying to reconcile her overbearing mother’s expectations with her own secret ambitions to pay attention to school antics. But just as Rachel finds her voice, it turns into screams.
Together, the two girls find themselves digging deeper into the school’s dark history, hunting for the truth. Little do they know that a specter lurks in the darkness, watching, waiting, and hungry for its next victim…
Note from author — “It includes discussions and descriptions of sexual assault, trauma and PTSD. If this is too much for you right now, please set this book down and come back to it when you can. There is no shame in protecting your scars.”
Ramin Abbas Has MAJOR Questions by Ahmad Saber
Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Ramin Abbas has spent his whole life obeying his parents, his Imam, and, of course, Allah—no questions asked. But when he starts crushing on the ridiculously handsome captain of the soccer team, so many things he’d always been so sure about are becoming questions:
1. Music is haram. But what if the Wicked soundtrack is the only thing keeping you sane because you’re being forced to play on the soccer team? With Captain Handsome?!
2. A boy crush is double haram, and Ramin’s parents will never accept it. But can he really be the only Muslim on Earth who feels this way?
3. Allah is merciful and makes no mistakes. Then isn’t Ramin just the way Allah intended him to be?
And so why should living your truth but losing everything—or living a lie and losing yourself—have to be a choice?!
Travelers Along the Way: A Robin Hood Remix by Aminah Mae Safi
Feiwel & Friends
Jerusalem, 1192. The Third Crusade rages on. Rahma al-Hud loyally followed her elder sister Zeena into the war over the Holy Land, but now that the Faranji invaders have gotten reinforcements from Richard the Lionheart, all she wants to do is get herself and her sister home alive.
But Zeena, a soldier of honor at heart, refuses to give up the fight while Jerusalem remains in danger of falling back into the hands of the false Queen Isabella. And so, Rahma has no choice but to take on one final mission with her sister.
On their journey to Jerusalem, Rahma and Zeena come across a motley collection of fellow travelers―including a softspoken Mongolian warrior, an eccentric Andalusian scientist, a frustratingly handsome spy with a connection to Rahma’s childhood, and an unfortunate English chaplain abandoned behind enemy lines. The teens all find solace, purpose and camaraderie―as well as a healthy bit of mischief―in each other’s company.
But their travels soon bring them into the orbit of Queen Isabella herself, whose plans to re-seize power in Jerusalem would only guarantee further war and strife in the Holy Land for years to come. And so it falls to the merry band of misfits to use every scrap of cunning and wit (and not a small amount of thievery) to foil the usurper queen and perhaps finally restore peace to the land.
Unbecoming bu Seema Yasmin
Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Two Muslim teens in Texas fight for access to abortion while one harbors a painful secret in this funny and heartfelt near-future speculative novel perfect for fans of Unpregnant .
In a not-too-distant America, abortions are prosecuted and the right to choose is no longer an option. But best friends Laylah and Noor want to change the world. After graduating high school, they’ll become an OBGYN and a journalist, but in the meantime, they’re working on an illegal guide to abortion in Texas.
In response to the unfair laws, underground networks of clinics have sprung up, but the good fight has gotten even more precarious as it becomes harder to secure safe medication and supplies. Both Layla and Noor are passionate about getting their guide completed so it can help those in need, but Laylah treats their project with an urgency Noor doesn’t understand—that may have something to do with the strange goings-on between their mosque and a local politician.
Fighting for what they believe in may involve even more obstacles than they bargained for, but the two best friends will continue as they always together.